Aug 28, 2014 - You can also download it for $10 from developer NovaLogic. Tachyon: The Fringe should run just fine once you install it, but it needs a little.
Tachyon: The Fringe is a space combat simulation where you must use your own survival techniques as a pilot figher. When you explore the galaxy, you often encounter vicious space battles. You play as Jake Logan, a corporate star pilot in the 26th century. You are framed for a crime you did not commit. Banished to the dangerous fringe of colonized space, you must survive by all accounts. Bruce Cambell is the voice for your character Jake Login.
Cambell is well known for the Evil Dead movie and the television show, Xena: Warrior Princess. Tachyon: The Fringe Review By Chad Montague June 05, 2012 The last year has seen an amazing revolution in space combat gaming. First Volition's Freespace 2 showed players that capital ships could be a great deal more than big targets floating in space. The game also featured battles with far more ships than anyone had ever seen before.
Shortly after, X: Beyond the Frontier, a sleeper title distributed by Southpeak, brought back the trader/mercenary feel than made old titles like Elite such a huge hit. More recently, Microsoft's Allegiance expanded gamers expectations by opening up a world where dozens of attack craft, each piloted by real people, could coordinate their attacks against other human opponents. This game was quickly followed up by Starlancer, a single player game with some of the finest in-game graphics that the genre has ever seen. With all of these titles still sitting on the shelf, Novalogic's latest entry to the crowd, Tachyon, seems at first glance to be overwhelmed by the competition. After all, the game at no time exhibits the complex gameplay of a Freespace 2, the powerful multiplayer options of an Allegiance or the graphics power of a Starlancer.
After spending a couple of weeks with this totally addictive shooter, I finally figured out what it was about the game that makes it so compelling. Thanks to a strong storyline that's a good bit more interesting than the cookie cutter fare of the last few years and an amazing vocal performance by Bruce Campbell and a handful of other actors, Tachyon has a personality that's a welcome change from the more anonymous offerings of the past. As I've already stated, the game's storyline plays a large part in its success. You start the game as Jake Logan, a relatively profitable freelancer who hires his services out to the various mega-corporations of Sol space. You fly your first few missions in a powerful fighter loaded out with some solid shields, an advanced afterburner system and a handful of weapons options. After your first few runs, you get a chance (okay, it's the only job available) to help a freighter that's delivering supplies to a quarantined base.
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Something goes wrong, the base blows up and you're blamed for the whole thing. After standing trial for your, 'crimes against humanity,' you're exiled from Sol space into the Fringe, the dangerous outskirts of colonized space.
Here you must build a new life, hiring out your tiny ship and its peashooter weapons (the government took just about everything you owned) for extremely dangerous missions and the very little pay that comes with them. To make matters worse, shortly after you arrive, you'll be pulled into the life and death struggle between a huge mining corporation and the people they seek to displace. Tachyon's play is pretty basic stuff. Between missions you're stationed at a starbase with a ship hangar that lets you buy new weapons and equipment, a new station that lets you keep up with what's going on in the galaxy and a jobs board that let you find work.
Usually there will be three or four different missions available for you on any given job board each offering different employers, pay, and levels of danger. The jobs themselves are pretty standard fare, ranging from simple, 'go kill all the bad guys in sector X' to the trickier escort missions (it turns out I'm really bad at keeping things alive). While the game doesn't offer a lot in the different variety of missions available, every single one of them is pretty interesting. You'll never find yourself flying to random waypoints for no reason or spending three hours on patrol duty.
Once you finish a mission, you'll need to return to the starbase (something that can be a lot harder than it sounds in some cases) to collect your pay and get more work. Sometimes events will occur during your missions (you'll run across a ship in distress or see a group of pirates) that you can pursue or not as you like. As these events are not part of your actual contract, you won't earn any more cash, but often following up on these opportunities can earn you more practical rewards (access to a new wingman or weapon). So how does it fly?
Where most space combat sims try to walk the fine line between fun and realistism, Tachyon seems to head right towards fun with no apologies. But while Tachyon's ultra-basic flight model may turn off sim fans at first glance, there are some pretty cool features available for those who take the time to learn them. In addition to a super cool retro thrusters button (which can be extremely useful when you're locked in a turning battle), the game also boasts a 'slide' feature that enables talented pilots to change the direction their ship is pointing while maintaining their original speed and heading. This is not only useful for when you're trying to baffle enemy attacks, but is also handy when you're flying next to something you want to shoot at.
The more you play with this function, the more ways you'll find it completely invaluable. Even so, after I finished the game using the retro and slide functions, I went back and found the game easy to beat without them. Worse still, even though the game has several ships that you can eventually pilot, all of them feel pretty much the same. Don't get too cocky though.
While Tachyon may not challenge the pilot in you all that much, the game offers loads of different weapon types for you to master. In addition to the basic lasers, which come in light, medium and heavy forms, there are loads of different missiles, torpedoes, sappers (an energy device that lowers an enemy's shields for a certain amount of time) and even a tractor beam. Choosing the right weapons for a mission is extremely important there were several times that I thought I wouldn't be able to finish a mission at all until I changed my weapons loadout, went back and finished it with ease.
Enemy AI is pretty good and knows enough to lead you away from a central battle (on escort missions) or towards his teammates. One thing that did really irritate me though was the fact that every now and then a fighter would keep running away (on a mission where I had to kill everyone to move on) so it ended up taking me half-an-hour to kill him and move on. Another irritating issue was the fact that every now and then an enemy fighter would be able to fly right through an object, something that usually caused me to issue a string of curses as I crashed into the now solid object right behind them. Tachyon looks great, but it's just not up to the amazing standard set by games like Freespace 2 and Starlancer. Giant objects like starbases and freighters are pretty blocky and the textures in the game just aren't as crisp as some of the other space shooters out there. Even so, the game's artistic design is excellent and all of the weapons and craft are well conceived. More importantly, the game runs like lightning.
Unlike nearly every other game mentioned in this article, I never saw so much as a flicker of slow down in even the most heated of battles. In the end, it's the speed that's the most important thing.
What really makes Tachyon great, and at the same time what really makes it unbearable is the game's sound. On the one hand, the voice acting by Bruce Campbell is everything fans could have hoped. Campbell plays the reluctant hero role he has come to know so well to the hilt and his quips and taunts brought a smile to my face every time I went into battle. The effect is so successful that after a few missions you really come to care about the Jake Logan character. Better still, because the other actors also do a great job, you really come to care about who you deal with as well.
Unfortunately this phenomenal accomplishment is completely eroded by a lukewarm soundtrack and some of the worst sound effects I've ever heard in a game. The laser noises sounded to me like a 5-year-old child trying to do his impression of the Millenium Falcon. To Steve it sounded more like the incessant chirping of baby birds. Either way, it's pretty much intolerable and ridiculous when you think about the capability of today's sound cards.
Tachyon's multiplayer features are solid, but like the rest of the game, pretty basic fare. Internet play is available through Novalogic's proprietary NovaWorld server and you can usually find a good game going on. Still, when compared with all of the complexity and options to be found in Allegiance, it's not much to write home about. We had a lot more fun with LAN games, but after a few days attention waned and we went elsewhere. Tachyon's a great game. It's got heart, it's got action and it offers enough well designed missions to keep you busy for a couple of weeks. Still, this is a title that's all about quick random action and isn't really designed at a level to complete with the meatier sims like Freespace 2 (which you should already own) and Starlancer (which you should get).
If you've got the means, you should absolutely go get a copy of this game. If on the other hand, you can only afford one space combat title this season, your hard-earned cash is probably best spent on Starlancer.
Cheat mode: Press 7 on the keypad to bring up the console window. Enter 'im a cheater' to activate the cheat mode. Now you can use any of the following cheat codes: CheatEffectone million dollarsAdds 5000 creditsquickeningActivates god modecome get someFull ammunitiondilithiumFull energythere is no spoonReturn to your starbase to complete missionsay ahhOpen targeted gateboom stickAllows you to buy any item when you return to the starbaseragtagAllows you to buy any ship when you return to the starbasekessel runEnhances your ship.
Tachyon: The Fringe Game Walkthrough June 05, 2012 TACHYON: THE FRINGE Tachyon FAQ (PC) Written by: Orochi K E-mail: kartelkertra caramail com v Final - April 29, 2002 DISCLAIMER Copyright 2001-2002, Orochi K. This FAQ is for personal use only.
Do not distribute it or use it for profitable purposes. If you want to post this FAQ on a website, contact me first and send me a link to your site. Plagiarism is a crime, just ask. I have no objection on my FAQ being posted on someone else's website but you must give credit where it is due. Also, please keep in mind that under no circumstances, are you allowed to make any changes to this FAQ!
It must remain as it is and moreover, you are not allowed to rip off part(s) of this FAQ to put in another one. Tachyon: The Fringe is copyright NovaLogic. REVISION HISTORY Version 1.0 on April 23, 2001. Ships Guide complete. Completed all Bora Missions.
Completed HINTS AND TIPS Section. Version 1.1 on April 24, 2001. Completed first 8 Galspan Missions. Corrected a few mistakes.
Added a few misc stuff. Version 1.2 on April 25, 2001. Completed all missions. FAQ complete. Version 1.3 on April 26, 2001. Corrected various mistakes.
Added hints. Final Version on May 26, 2001. Last revision. Final Version on April 29, 2002. E-mail change! FAQ/WALKTHROUGH This FAQ only contains the best way to finish the missions and as quickly as possible.
I've also tried to include how to get the best weapons but I'm pretty sure I've missed certain of them. I haven't included the first missions because these are pretty straightforward. Instead, I've only covered the ones which will take you to the end of the game and during which the plot evolves.
Page Tools More. This page contains a list of cheats, codes, Easter eggs, tips, and other secrets for Tachyon: The Fringe for PC. If you've discovered a cheat you'd like to add to the page, or have a correction, please.
All Cheats Hit 7 on the NumPad and type: IM A CHEATER 5000 Credits hit 7 on the NumPad and type: ONE MILLION DOLLARS God Mode Hit 7 on the NumPad and type: QUICKENING Full Ammo Hit 7 on the NumPad and type: COME GET SOME Instant win by returning to the Starbase Hit 7 on the NumPad and type: THERE IS NO SPOON Full Energy Hit 7 on the NumPad and type: DILITHIUM All Items Hit 7 on the NumPad and type: BOOM STICK All Ships Hit 7 on the NumPad and type: RAGTAG Upgrade Ship Hit 7 on the NumPad and type: KESSEL RUN.